Broward Health’s plan to award a no-bid advertising contract worth as much as $71.4 million over six years to a politically connected advertising firm was interrupted last month after hospital district chief executive Dr. Nabil El Sanadi killed himself.

The deal, negotiated in secret by El Sanadi and Broward Health’s board of commissioners without considering any firm but one run by a major Republican fundraiser, is so large that records say other planned projects might have to be delayed.

The records also show that El Sanadi pushed the deal despite a warning in December from Broward Health’s chief financial officer, Robert K. Martin, that the proposed agreement with Fort Lauderdale’s Zimmerman Advertising was based on phony statistics.

Within weeks of his warning, however, Martin was out of the job he’d held since 2010. A knowledgeable source told FloridaBulldog.org that Martin was fired because El Sanadi lost confidence in him, and that Martin was given a separation agreement with a substantial payout and a requirement that he keep his mouth shut.

“It was very quick. I thought he was doing a good job,” said Joel Gustafson, one of seven commissioners appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott to oversee the public health system.

Broward Health interim chief executive Kevin Fusco declined to be interviewed about Martin’s departure following last week’s board meeting. He also did not respond to written questions sent to him via a spokeswoman on Thursday. Likewise, Broward Health’s lawyers did not respond to a Feb. 4 public records request for a copy of Martin’s separation agreement.

The proposed Zimmerman contract is for the production and placement of Broward Health ads and promotions at an annual cost not to exceed $10 million for three years, with annual renewals for up to three more years. In addition, taxpayer-supported Broward Health would pay Zimmerman an annual agency retainer fee of $1.9 million, to be adjusted based on volume growth results.

The goal: “increasing in-patient and out-patient volume,” the minutes from the December board meeting say. The proposed contract itself, as well as details of the advertising plan, has not been made public.

In December, the commission approved spending an initial $5 million with Zimmerman from December thru next July, but the rest of the deal was postponed.

Commissioners were to vote Jan. 27 on authorizing El Sanadi to sign the full contract, but the vote was canceled after El Sanadi’s suicide four days earlier.

Contract on hold

Now the matter has been put on hold until a permanent new chief executive can be chosen, said board chairman David Di Pietro.

“I do support this. I think we have horrible branding issues. We need image control,” said Di Pietro. “What has gotten lost in all this is what is actually being done at our medical facilities.”

Zimmerman Advertising is a nationally known firm that’s part of Omnicon Group. Martin’s warning that the proposed contract with Zimmerman was badly flawed came at Broward Health’s regular board meeting Dec. 16 – the first time the matter surfaced publicly following months of private board planning meetings.

Zimmerman Advertising’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters

According to minutes of that meeting, Zimmerman previously pitched the advertising campaign based on substantial projected benefits that Broward Health Chief Financial Officer Martin said relied on erroneous figures.

Sources said company founder Jordan Zimmerman made the presentation at the “shade” meeting the public was not allowed to attend. Accompanying Zimmerman at that time was Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, a Zimmerman employee and former chair of the Republican Party of Broward County.

The minutes say Broward Health’s leadership agreed to the multi-million-dollar deal “based on a presentation by Zimmerman showing an ROI [return on investment] of 290 percent or an expected contribution margin of approximately $58 million by the end of year three for a $30 million spend.”

Martin, however, told commissioners that Zimmerman’s numbers were based on “hitting 74 percent occupancy level with no reasoning behind it just because that was the national occupancy level for hospitals with greater than 500 beds.”

While Zimmerman estimated its multi-million-dollar ad campaign would generate revenue as much as $4 for every dollar spent, Martin said the real figure was a loss of 10 cents on a dollar spent.

‘A fiduciary responsibility’

“Mr. Martin informed the board that he has a fiduciary responsibility and with that responsibility he must remind the board that at the strategic planning meeting it was agreed to spend the $10 million based on a 290 percent return which is not possible,” the minutes say.

“Given that BH is already $12.5 million behind budget for the year, Mr. Martin feels that for the board to spend (millions) without knowing what the expectations are and not to be able to hold Zimmerman to some benchmarks without knowing what BH is paying for, is something the board should not be doing,” the minutes say.

El Sanadi and a majority of the board shrugged off Martin’s concerns.

“It is critical and essential for Broward Health not to miss the opportunity to get its services out to the community as the (winter tourist) season begins,” El Sanadi said, according to the minutes.

The board voted 5-2 to spend $5 million with Zimmerman between Dec. 16 and July 1. A broader formal contract, to include a method of determining whether the advertising was working, would be hammered out later.

Voting no were Commissioners Gustafson and Sheela VanHoose. Gustafson called the Zimmerman deal “very expensive advertising” and said the cost was so high the board should spend more time debating it. VanHoose said, “There is no contract and that is a problem.”

Beset by competition from private and other public hospital systems, Broward Health has been struggling for years to fill its beds with patients paying for elective surgery.

El Sanadi, named CEO in December 2014, hired Zimmerman to provide marketing services for Broward Health in April 2015.

“Nabil contacted me on the recommendation of (one-time Republican U.S. Sen.) George LeMieux in November 2014. He believed Broward Health wasn’t performing like it should,” firm owner Jordan Zimmerman said in an interview last week. The contract was for $2 million, he said.

Broward Health Commissioner Gustafson remembered things differently. “I don’t recall us having a discussion of how we should promote our business … I believe Zimmerman brought the idea to us. I believe he met with every commissioner,” Gustafson said.

There is no record of Zimmerman’s lobbying. State hospital districts are not required to register lobbyists.

A generous political donor

At the December meeting, Martin told commissioners he also was concerned at Zimmerman Advertising’s “lack of experience at the hospital level.” Still, Broward Health’s Republican commissioners knew Jordan Zimmerman as a generous political contributor to Republican causes.

Zimmerman and his wife, Denise, served on Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s Florida finance committee. In October 2012, the couple and other GOP heavyweights hosted a $25,000-a-plate dinner for Romney in Boca Raton.

In June, Gov. Scott reappointed Zimmerman, 59, to a four-year term on the board of trustees of his alma mater, the University of South Florida. Zimmerman donated a record $10 million to the school last March. The university later renamed its mass communications school the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications.

With El Sanadi’s help, the idea of hiring Zimmerman’s ad firm got quick traction at Broward Health. Secret commission meetings to discuss the advertising proposal were held under a state exemption to the Sunshine Law that permits public hospitals to hold closed-door meetings for “strategic planning.”

Some details, however, emerged in December. The proposal cost so much that other planned projects would have to be delayed until the 2016-2017 fiscal year, according to interviews and Broward Health documents. Still, despite the multi-million-dollar size of the proposal, only Zimmerman Advertising was considered for the job.

Broward Health Chief Information Officer Doris Peek was assigned to privately negotiate a deal with Zimmerman. Peek conceded at the December commission meeting that “marketing is not her specialty” and she depended on Zimmerman Advertising “to use their expertise how best to spend the money.”

Peek is quoted in the minutes as telling commissioners, “The numbers being used were generated by Zimmerman.”

Zimmerman’s research found that Broward Health badly needed to step up its advertising. According to the firm, Broward Health’s “brand awareness” in the tri-county area was 4 percent, while competitors had 96 percent “more exposure.”

El Sanadi told the board he’d “spent a lot of time with Zimmerman” and hoped the deal would begin in January.

Zimmerman said in an interview that his talks with El Sanadi about the competitive problems that Broward Health was facing convinced him to take on the advertising job.

“Even though it was a small contract, I thought this was valuable to do. “I’ve lived here 40 years. I felt an obligation to do something to help Broward Health to become top of mind. We have to build the brand so that it becomes a destination.”

Latest comments

Mr Patient/February 16, 2016

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The shade, lies and nonsense continues.
Who is going to step in and clean up this fiasco?
And what is milequetoast Kevin Fusco doing as interim?
Dipietro’s lies continue.
Community please please take time out and attend these public board meetings. Let your voices be heard. Now is the time.
Take a look and listen to this lying Dipetro below.
Dipetro was your constant interference with NES’s vision and good will the cause of his suicide? Were you pressuring him during your daily visits during his recovery?http://www.local10.com/this-week-in-south-florida/this-week-in-south-florida-feb-14

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SpeakOut/February 16, 2016

This is sickening. A trustee needs to step in and run this hospital system.
If I understand this correctly, BH was 12.5 million in the red in December of 2015 yet over 4 million dollars were pad in management bonus in late October. That’s intelligent.

The marketing team was fired immediately after NES took over, which is fine. Not unusual move as they were under performing anyway, However, he put an already incompetent executive (Doris Peek), the head of Information Systems in charge. Google Ms. Peek, under the name Doris Crane at St. Mary’s hospital in Palm Beach and see the mess she made up there. She probably doesn’t even know BH’s service area. That’s Intelligent.

LaMarca, Lemieux and Scott. Where the devil goes…trouble follows.
Send in a trustee, clean house and get have an exorcism on this house of horrors.

SpeakOut/February 16, 2016

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Emergency/February 16, 2016

How much money did El Sanadi recieve to make this happen?
More importantly, how much money was paid out for EMCARE to secure the ED contract??? Please look into the EMCARE-El Sanadi relationship.

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Anonymous/February 16, 2016

This is El Sanadi and Dipietro corruption, not Nask And Peek

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Anonymous/February 16, 2016

How odd that the inexperienced CEOs first task upon hire was to fire the marketing department when there were many other higher priorities. Was this marketing kickback to the good ol boys part of the plan from the start? Which members of the board were in on it?

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Marketing Genius/February 16, 2016

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Bill/February 16, 2016

A complete idiot reading this and past articles can see how corrupt BH is. These individuals past and present are like cocker roaches and grease the grease being taxpayer dollars.

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SpeakOut/February 16, 2016

Beg to differ anonymous…
It is about Nask and Peek and ALL those who came before them and after.
It not only about corruption it is about incompetency and a poor run system for decades. It is about cronyism and how incompetent people get high level jobs.

If Ms Peek were competent in marketing and by her own admission she was not, she would have oposssed this action as Mr. Martin did. Seriously, if people making hungpdreds of thousands of dollars a year get upset when someone comments about their total incompetency, it,s time to leave. The party is over.

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Current Marketing SVP (or lack of....)/February 16, 2016

Own your shit Doris ‘Peek! NES came in. You ‘somehow were’, shall we say “promoted” to SVP Marketing. Without blinking an eye, without getting to know them, you quickly fired an entire experienced and qualified Marketing team for NO GOOD REASON, except your narcissistic, ego driven attitude. Karma bites and you are now getting bitten (well deserved). You should have listened to and worked with Bob Martin, our very experienced and well-respected CFO, who only wanted to do right for Broward Health. NOW, you claim ‘MARKETING’ is NOT your specialty’? Nice try. ‘REBRANDING” your title by removing Marketing is not the answer. Nice try. You can not hide from the mess you assisted in creating. Nice try. WHY IS THAT DORIS PEEK? EXPLAIN YOURSELF to the Board, to the community, and to the true CARE WARRIORS you claim to care so much about. Sad, it’s very sad Doris Peek! And so you know Doris Peek, this message is not being brought to you by anyone in the POWERFUL Marketing team BH once had. Shame on you Doris Peek.

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NES, though his death tragic, was as corrupt as any other CEO, COO, VP, etc., involved in BH’s sordid past and current state. He spent a FORTUNE in his short time as CEO, and he did not go through required bidding processes. How else did he get to a $71M marketing budget? And how about the $500M BSO security contract he was trying to push through w/o appropriate bidding, and intent to bring a piece of that into BH too? I think his past was catching up with him due to the FBI investigation, and I am sad yet honest enough to say I think he took the cowards way out, once again victimizing people, this time his own wife and children. What a man! But all of this goes FAR beyond BH, NES, et al. BH is nothing more than a bank account for politicians to reap money out of. That IS the story. My question to the Sun Sentinel and Florida Bulldog; when are you going to impartially investigate the REAL issue, the sleazy politicians, no matter how high, right, or left they are?

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Favors Favors and More Favors/February 16, 2016

It seems like to me the majority of people on the board…(read that as MAJORITY…not ALL) are gaining PERSONAL favors from being on the board.

Let’s take Sheila Van Hoose…She voted to have Tripp Scott’s law firm as general counsel back in July 2015. It is well known in the community that Charter School’s USA is Tripps biggest client. Isn’t it interesting that 2 weeks later Sheila secured a job for Charter School’s USA? So, who is REALLy getting “kick backs” from making decisions? And decisions, nonetheless which would not help the district, whatsoever. It does, however help the person receiving a job, no?

Furthermore, was I the only person who noticed Ms. Van Hoose sitting next to Governor Scott at Dr. El Sanadi’s funeral? Interesting.

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Anonymous/February 16, 2016

Dearest Maureen Canada
When appointed you bragged about being so honored to serve your community? Umm exactly which community have you served since being appointed? Your rich Westminister Academy parents group? Your LHP rich community? Certainly not me nor my family members and working class friends who live in your representative district and have to wait hours to seek care in one of your clinics only to be seen by nurse practioner. Or have the misfortune of having to be hospitalized at the poorly run Coral Springs hospital Kim Grahm coo cno is the meanest most clueless administrator ever. But I now know why she is permitted to call herself a nurse and keep her job because you and your cronies are too concerned with positioning yourselves politically to secure bragging rights of being a board member. Board membership comes with accountable Ned responsibility. Do you think that your dear father would be so proud. He is rolling over in his grave at your ineptness.
You now have the opportunity to make him proud. Do better. Help end this craziness for your district. Please!!!!!!

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Yup, politicians giving and receiving favors to their friends, pilfering hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars off the backs of tax payers, Medicare, and Medicaid. They should all be exposed and put where they belong; in jail. No wonder why Americans are looking to Trump and Sanders for relief from all of this all time lowly behavior.

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zigy/February 16, 2016

dan I think you finally hit on a nerve. keep going, follow the money and way too much is involved here, good luck and better digging…..

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zigy/February 16, 2016

I forgot, what the hell does a public hospital need to advertise for, cut the rates and give great service and they will come

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More about a trustee/February 16, 2016

Please provide more info about a trustee. So we need to go to our state reps to get this going? Whom do I need to call. I can get everyone on our nursing unit onboard.
I will email call whatever is needed. Just tell me where to go.
It really pains me to read this knowing that every guy before Thanksgiving the board gave us a bonus but then the next week proceeded to cut hours.
There is so much waste going on from those of us not directly involved in patient care. Why are people allowed to attend expensive conferences, go to useless tired Broward Health University classes, attend Six Sigma Shit but we at the bedside suffer? Everyone is on easy street and getting rich and advancing from a political perspective off of our slave labor.
Thanks

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Emergency/February 16, 2016

Broward Health Coral Springs emergency department is a CESS POOL!
For decades it was known as the worst ED in Broward County after a short time of improvement the place is now going back to the disgusting culture present previously. What a shame!!!! The physician leadership and nursing leadership are completely inept!!!! It is par for the course because the CEO Grossman is a joke!!! But nothing compared to the CNO Kim Graham who is mean and useless.

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Suzanne/February 16, 2016

Let me see if I’ve got this straight: George Lemieux, former chairman of the Broward Republican party, called NES and suggested that BH should hire the advertising firm where Chip LaMarca, former chair of the Broward Republican party, and current county commissioner, works. The board went into a closed board meeting allegedly for “strategic planning” to discuss this high paying no bid advertising contract. What is strategic about that? Every hospital advertises. And did they get a legal opinion before holding the meeting? From who? I submit that the sole purpose of this meeting was to line the pockets of a political friend (and forgive me, Mr. Zimmerman, but $71.4 million is NOT a small contract). Since this was all done in the shade, who drafted the contract? Surely it did not go through the normal channels or there would have been a paper trail. And wasn’t Nask still on retainer as a consultant for several hundred thousand dollars while this was going on? Keep looking, Buddy. I think you’re on to something.

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And then there’s innocent DiPietro, touting his desire for transparency, with history of being in bed with Lemieux, who represented Chizler, oops I mean Chizner, tho Chiz making over $1M salary while maybe bringing in $250k revenue. See how the politicians are feeding off the money with their little friends?

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What a typical Broward cesspool of corruption. FBI needs to clean house here. Hope they don’t let anyone know what they’re doing so we don’t have another Hollywood PD drama. You remember…when the chief who was told by the FBI to keep it confidential told Mayor Giulanti who told…and the whole thing blew up with only four corrupt cops caught.

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Didn’t the board or attorney Barrett say in another blog that “shade” board meetings were reserved for when there was litigation against BH? And isn’t DiPietro touting how much he wants transparency? Talk about forked tongues and being caught red handed in lying. BH doesn’t need any marketing budget. Seems to me they’re getting plenty of it, and for free. How do these spineless slime bags sleep in their own skin at night. Better yet, how do their spouses!

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Hillary/February 16, 2016

In all of this corruption and back door dealings where is the thought of “patient care”. Does anyone care that tax payer money goes to a health care system that does not hold their leaders accountable. For example, BHCS has absolutely terrible AVATAR scores (patient satisfaction). It is embarrassing, but BH leadership doesn’t do anything about it?????

Fire Drew Grossman and Kim Graham tomorrow!!!!!!!!
They have failed the system as evident by the results of their work.

Nothing will happen until a patient is negatively impacted by this incompetence.

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IT at Broward Health has been a bastion of cronyism and kickback for years and HR has done nothing to change the culture. BH will remain the same until people like Doris Peek , Ronaldo Montmann, and Richie Persaud are fully investigated and forced out.

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Raindancer/February 17, 2016

The Ryan Tannehill commercials were actually pretty good but a 71 million dollar marketing campaign is ridiculous. I wonder how much Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital or Cleveland Clinic, or Baptist South, or any of them spend on local television, radio, billboards and print ads. The marketing budget being handed out to someone politically connected to the governor is just another example of how the hospital districts money is a big grab bag for whoever is in charge. It’s probably a big incentive to run for Governor.

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Worked to the bone RN/February 17, 2016

Imperial Point has our problems too:
Alice Taylor ushered in republican politically connected doctors who were not successful at Holy Cross. Zachariah, it is difficult to spell their names.
We also have a crazy CNO Sandra who can barely put a sentence together and expects us to focus on bogus awards like pathways and magnet which are lies or she takes credit for things that was in place long before she got here. Our nurses leave because she doesn’t focus on what is important.

We are advertising our politically connected doctors a lot though! Meanwhile the real work is not recognized.

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Matrix/February 17, 2016

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Putting a portable cardiac catheterization lab in a trailer outside a hospital is an outdated, unsafe practice. BHIPs new cardiac physicians are outcasts, dethroned at Holy Cross Hospital, and they apparently can only do diagnostic procedures, not corrective procedures. 1) who on earth wants to have a catch in a trailer? 2) who on earth wants to undergo this potentially life-risking procedure, knowing if something is wrong and can be corrected during an interventional cath, that they will need to go through it all over again, and 3) BHIP has no cardiac surgery operating room so if a major coronary artery is acvidentally punctured, there is no life-saving back-up, hence goodbye! Also, did not see the big man himself in Sunday’s gluttonous ad in Sun Sentinel. Why is that? Since he gave MUCH more $ to Slick Scott and the Republican Party, perhaps he will be the next incompetent CEO of BH?!!!!

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PCTA/February 17, 2016

Awesome points pickled. I say we let the Zachariahs perform procedures on all the C suites and all of their republican cronies ” in van down by the river” ( in an SNL Chris Farley voice :)) once the jail sentences hopefully get handed down they will be having big ones like Fred Sandford and will need procedures.
All kidding aside though, this is beyond preposterous. The sad part is aside from the sexual pred

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PCTA/February 17, 2016

Sexual predator Brian Bravo maybe getting fined. Nothing will become of all this. Life at BH will continue on as those of us working here know it.

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Imperial Point/February 17, 2016

Doing a cardiac cath in a trailor is an absolute disaster!!! What idiot thought of that??? If you can’t do something right then don’t do it at all!!! I feel terrible for the poor souls that actually are convinced to have there cardiac catheter in a trailor. OMG what is next???????

If you need a cardiac cath go to a real hospital… Scary stuff

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I am an informed resident of Broward County and although we may disagree with what happened in the purchasing department, that does not give us the right to bad mouth Imperial Point’s CEO and CNO. I can tell you that I have first hand experience with both of them and they have BOTH been instrumental with the growth and development of BHIP and the staff. The CEO has done more for this hospital in the past 5 years than any other CEO, I.e., she renovated the 5th floor, she is renovating the 3rd floor, opened up a beautiful joint center, allocated funds to buy the proper equipment, our census is higher than projected, she supports the team and has developed an aggressive strategic plan so that BHIP will continue to be the hospital of choice within Broward County. The CNO came in and set the bar so high that some clinical staff members decided that it would be easier to leave, turned out to be a great thing because she was able to build an amazing team! The Pathways journey was a wonderful accomplishment and it should not be minimized, applying the time and effort to recieve this designation was a proud moment for the CNO and Imperial Point as a whole. These 2 ladies have done amazing things for Imperial Point and how dare you belittle their accomplishments. If you do not want to work here, leave and make way for those of us that still believe/know the corruption was at a corporate level only. We need more of the passion and dedication that BHIP’s CEO and CNO display and less focus on being disgruntle employees. The articles noted within the contents of this website are focused on specific things….it should not be used as a “free for all” to throw innocent bystanders under the bus, BHIP is a wonderful place to work and if you don’t feel that way…..leave, hundreds of people want your job!

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Fact checker/February 17, 2016

To correct the “knowledgeable source”, Mr. Martin was terminated because NES, as he is referred to now, did not want to hear the truth about how financially catastrophic his decisions and acts were to Broward Health. Mr. Martin was not compensated any more than what a regular executive payout is when they are walked out.

It is truly unfortunate to hear commissioners say that they were not aware of Mr. Martin’s firing as a member of senior management and especially when board members thought he was doing “a pretty good job”. Where is the oversight other than their personal agendas to help themselves or their friends?

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Imperial Point/February 17, 2016

Are you defending the use of a trailer for cardiac cath?

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Jim/February 17, 2016

I don’t know about corruption or any of the crap spouted here. I go by track record. Look at what Zimmerman has done for his clients. Ask Toyota, Party City and Papa Johns what his company has done for them. It’s easy to throw stones because the guy gives money to politicians… Broward Health needs help. Most agencies charge to do the work without having to answer to the results. Zimmerman brought the “pay by results” formula to the game. He was a part of the team that designed the “Just Say No” campaign to life and has some pretty impressive results for his clients but not one of you ever bothered to investigate that as being why the firm was hired.
It’s easier to call people corrupt. His employees love him, his clients love him and his vendors enjoy working with him. He gets results. MAYBE that’s why he was hired. Jordan Zimmerman is the best man for the job!

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Coral Springs/February 17, 2016

Imperial Point I truly respect your loyalty to your leadership and your supportive comments. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for our leadership at BHCS….stagnant, ridiculous and never positive to say the least. It is a club….not based on any value only longevity and friends! Then again why should it be the CEO and CNO are still here for years although everything that should show any value is in the RED…..not a little RED….bloody mess RED! But let’s read an article or have another meeting to have another meeting to change it. It’s getting sad! Look at the vacancy rates or how about they can’t even find a manager for my unit for over a year.

It is TIME FOR CHANGE STAT!!!!! When will corporate wake up? Fire Kim and Drew!!! We need a new positive culture!

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Sirius/February 18, 2016

Dear Jim, I mean Jordan Zimmerman, thanks for sharing your résumé.

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1) The Zimmerman contract is outrageously overpriced and was only going to be slid through, without proper vetting, due to cronyism between several parties.
2) If Broward Health reinvests in its infrastructure, and provides quality health care, it should not need to spend outrageous “damage control” money on marketing. They need to be held accountable for competing with like health systems in the community.
3) To the person so dedicated to BHIP: Please be sure it is either yourself, your mom, your dad, or someone whom you love very much that undergoes their non-interventional cardiac cath in the parking lot trailer first. As for me, I will choose a competent interventionalist who can fix the problem, then and there, when he/she performs my cath in a state of the art, internal, climate and airflow regulated cardiac cath lab where there is an on-call open heart surgery team and surgery suite should a major vessel get nicked or torn accidentally. I choose safe, quality care for me and my loved ones, thank you.

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OIG's day off/February 19, 2016

It sounds an awful lot like Chip Lamarca is lobbying Broward Health for a contract under the guise of marketing, something which he has no prior experience in. Under the County ethics rules that is a nono. I am no expert but a contract that size without a solicitation should be illegal.

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anonymous/February 19, 2016

What does this article have to do with BHCS and their leadership? Since some have taken the opportunity to punch both the CEO and CNO/COO, let me be the first to tell you that this is by far the best CEO we’ve ever had!!!!….If he’s so bad, then why have we been able to beat budget each year, acquired more capital for equipment, been great at expense management, improved our ER flow, increased our Employee Partnership and Physician Survey scores, and above all completed an ER expansion and soon to be new four-story tower expansion!!!…..That’s called hard work and leadership and it seems those of you taking shots at him just don’t like the fact that he places accountability and efficiency and effectiveness on your job and responsibilities. Apparently these ridiculous or unnecessary statements are being done by former employees whom did not get the message or within our walls that do not really know how our leadership operates. To me, both the CEO and CNO/COO have been pretty good to us and fair and supportive in what we try to achieve with patient care. Customer service seems to be a concern, and knowing this leadership team, they will get us there, but it takes all of us, and not just a few to make it right. A majority of us love them and know they’ve got our backs and again, believe in accountability and hard work!!!

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Manager/February 19, 2016

We should not blame the hospital for the chaos created by the corporate office. They should fire each and every corporate VP that were there from old corporate management like Doris. The issue is with physician contracts and managers that abused their powers. They should look at corporate HR and the compliance officer. Are they even reviewing ethics & compliance after the OIG findings? From what I heard the compliance officer is just pushing papers for everyone to sign without audits or training. BH need someone more ethical & knowledgeable than Donna. I have to leave this company because they don’t want to address my ethical & compliance concern. I hope this probe clean up the mess that is BH.

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Anonymous/February 20, 2016

Nice rebuttal Drew!!

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Anonymous Too/February 20, 2016

I am with you Manager. Several of us are looking as well. We don’t want to be part of this complete and total mess. We have no confidence in the senior mangement team that’s in place.

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Unhappy/February 20, 2016

They need to get their act together or be like Jackson.

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Scratching my head/February 20, 2016

Has anyone looked into BHMC-interim COO Rita Frantz-how does someone that is retired continue as an administrator then get promoted?
Looking for her predecessor director of the Women and Children’s hospital from within instead of appropriately looking outside the organization.
Only 3 internal (incompetent) applicants.
Something tells me Ms. Frantz wants to continue to control women and children’s.

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Gerry Schaffer/February 21, 2016

The whole thing smells of corruption. The Broward Health Board needs to be investigated from top to bottom. El Sanadi’s death should be investigated. Anybody checking his financial affairs,definitely should be part of the investigation.

You cannot trust the elected leaders. I applaud Commissioners Gustafson and Sheeler VanHoose for voting no. The remainder of Commissioners should be investigated for pay backs. Money pollutes the political environment at every level. Organizations like Zimmerman and FPL bribe their way into neat contracts.

No wonder the Donald Trumps’ of this world are having a field day. Sanders is also vilifying the slush of funds hitting politicians, legislators. Is there an honest one among them all. You have Rick Scott, Florida’s governor whose campaign funds and personal wealth explode every day he is in office. No wonder his juniors are following suit!

If Zimmerman is given this contract without a competitive bid then you can throw everything down the bathtub.

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EMCARE/February 21, 2016

El Sanadi was an ER Doc. Look at EMCARE-El Sanadi and there you will find the center of the corruption.

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martin/February 22, 2016

What about the advertising contacts done over the last 10 years without bids to multiple agencies outside Broward county….millions of dollars for billboards no one can read and full size page adds with skeletons. Why didn’t the agencies in broward county get to bid?

Zimmerman is the tip of the iceberg. ..are they gonna talk to all this managers who knew they were not abiding by the law and sunshine laws but they got out before the OIGS final disposition.

SOMEONE, FBI needs to bring in the conspiriters from 2011, 2012, 2013 to now responsible for no bids.

Fine them. ..they were making hundreds of thousands of thousands if dollars a year. They can afford a fine. Dont take it out of the hospitals budget for the poor!

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Obamacare/February 23, 2016

My guess is this is why the government entered the healthcare business. It is probably happening nationwide in public hospitals. The sheer volume of money flows shows how lucrative healthcare is for the payees. And we the peons are subsidizing it with mandatory premiums.

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Employed and Seeking Work Elsewhere/February 23, 2016

Dear Anonymous Above —
The firing of the marketing department was because
1. Any other CEO would have done the same, with the exception of Nask who allowed the Sr VPs “to form a “chick” dynasty.. .
2. The Sr. VP was married to one of the key physicians in this investigation. PS he was married to someone else before the VP met him
3. The Sr. VP had placed all of her near and dear friends in plum positions — all of which knew less about marketing to the Broward populations than Zimmerman would!
4. The new CEO knew she had circled herself with wannabees, so she was able to ensure their silence at all costs, as everyone was pretty sure they wouldn’t be hired elsewhere.
5. She and her marketing team were an embarrassment to all of us. Spending money – huge hunks it appeared, while the rest of s were having to cut every penny we could.
6. They were fired for incompetence and wasting money. They were over staffed and a waste.

On that note, why in the world does Broward Health or Broward General need to advertise? There isn’t another hospital near them and there are hundreds or thousands of doctors with patients. Why in the world is there even a marketing department? An advertising agency? Why why why??????

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